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Overview:
The Shoabense Cartel is a shadowy and highly organized crime syndicate that originated in the Heliotrope Star System. Although the cartel has since established its operations on Sidereal Haven, a heavily fortified space station in orbit around the violet gas giant known as “Violet,” it maintains deep ties to its roots in the Heliotrope system. The cartel is renowned for its ability to blend in with legitimate businesses, exploit legal loopholes, and engage in smuggling, extortion, cybernetic enhancements, and contract killings.
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Leadership:
- Supreme Syndicate Leader: Mira Keth’al, a cunning and charismatic female, born on the planet Amaranth, with a mysterious background. She emphasizes loyalty and efficiency within her ranks and is rumored to possess rare telepathic abilities that aid her in manipulating others.
- Advisory Council: Comprised of representatives from different criminal factions within the cartel, including smugglers, hackers, mercenaries, and assassins who all answer directly to Mira. Each council member oversees a specific sector of the cartel’s operations.
Operations:
- Smuggling Routes: The cartel has developed secret hyperspace lanes that allow for quick transportation of illegal goods, specializing in rare alien artifacts and banned technological enhancements.
- Cybernetics Market: The Shoabense Cartel operates several underground clinics providing illegal modifications and enhancements. They are known for their cutting-edge technology and ruthless practices, sometimes using unwilling subjects for testing new cybernetics.
- Data Theft and Hacking: The cartel employs skilled hackers to infiltrate corporate databases, steal sensitive information, and sell it to the highest bidder, often extorting businesses by threatening to release sensitive data unless paid a hefty sum.
- Political Manipulation: The Shoabense Cartel has a network of informants and bribed officials throughout the Heliotrope Star System and beyond, enabling them to evade law enforcement and manipulate political decisions for their benefit.
- Assassination Services: The cartel offers professional assassination services, eliminating high-profile targets for individuals or factions willing to pay the steep price. Their team of skilled assassins is known for being discreet and highly effective, often leaving no trace of their involvement.
Activities:
- Black Market Operations: The cartel frequently hosts clandestine auctions for rare items and technology, drawing in wealthy bidders from across the galaxy.
- Bounty Hunting: They employ bounty hunters to track down individuals who owe them debts or who have interfered with their operations, offering large sums of money for successful captures.
- Disinformation Campaigns: To protect their operations, the cartel employs tactics to sow confusion among law enforcement and rival organizations, spreading false information, creating decoy operations, and eliminating key targets through plausible deniability.
- Contract Killings: For a price, the Shoabense Cartel will take on assignments to eliminate competitors, whistleblowers, or anyone threatening their interests, ensuring that they maintain their hold on the criminal underworld.
Base of Operations:
The Shoabense Cartel’s primary base is located on Sidereal Haven, a fortified space station orbiting the gas giant “Violet” in the Heliotrope Star System. Sidereal Haven serves as a hub for their operations, featuring black market storefronts, a cybernetic lab, and a data vault that holds stolen information. The station is designed to be easily defensible, with secret escape routes to evade law enforcement.
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Potential Story Hooks:
- Information Heist: The players are hired to infiltrate one of the cartel’s data vaults to recover sensitive corporate information that could expose the cartel’s illegal activities.
- Cybernetic Trafficking: The players discover illegal cybernetic operations involving kidnapped individuals, leading to a deeper investigation into the cartel’s activities and potential rescues.
- Political Corruption: As law enforcement begins to track the cartel, players must navigate a corruption-laden political environment to root out the cartel’s influence while trying to avoid being caught themselves.
- Double Agent: A mole within the cartel seeks the players’ help to escape, revealing secrets that could lead to the cartel’s downfall or thrust the players into the cartel’s internal power struggles.
- Assassination Gone Wrong: The players are inadvertently drawn into a failed assassination attempt, leading them to uncover deeper cartel secrets and potentially forcing them to decide how to handle the fallout.
Joining the Shoabense Cartel
Background Check: Before a character can join the Shoabense Cartel, they must undergo a thorough background check. The cartel values loyalty, skills, and discretion, so only those with a clean (or suitably concealed) history will be considered. Characters with a criminal background may have an advantage, while those with a history of law enforcement may find it difficult to gain entry unless they have compelling reasons.
Character Requirements:
- Skills: The Shoabense Cartel is interested in individuals with specialized skills, such as:
- Combat Skills: Proficiency in firearms and melee combat, including any specific combat skills from the Alpha Dawn rule set.
- Stealth and Evasion: Skills in sneaking, hiding, and escaping detection.
- Hacking: Competence in computer skills and hacking to infiltrate corporate networks or defend cartel assets.
- Persuasion/Intimidation: Social skills that allow for negotiation or extraction of information.
- Motivation: Characters should have a compelling reason to join the cartel, such as seeking wealth, power, revenge, or a way to escape a dangerous situation. This motivation can influence their entry process.
- Reputation: Building a reputation in the underworld can attract the attention of the cartel. Characters might engage in other criminal activities (smuggling, petty crime, etc.) in the Kyloma Galaxy to get on the cartel’s radar.
Joining Process
- Initial Contact:
- Characters can make contact with the cartel through various means, such as visiting a known hangout spot for cartel members, meeting with a current associate, or being introduced by a mutual contact. The player can role-play this opportunity to establish connections.
- Trial Job:
- Potential recruits may be assigned a trial job or mission by a cartel associate or member. This could involve stealing valuable information, delivering illicit goods, or even eliminating a target. Successfully completing this trial would demonstrate the character’s skills and gain the cartel’s trust.
- Roll relevant skills (e.g., Combat, Stealth, Persuasion) during the job to see how effectively they handle it.
- Evaluation:
- After the trial job, cartel higher-ups will evaluate the character’s performance. If they did well and exhibited the necessary traits of loyalty, effectiveness, and discretion, they may be invited to join.
- Initiation Ceremony:
- New members might undergo a secret initiation ceremony, solidifying their allegiance to the Shoabense Cartel. This could involve a symbolic act (e.g., taking an oath, receiving a token of membership), which could deepen their commitment and connection to the cartel.
- Probationary Period:
- New recruits may enter a probationary period where they prove themselves further. During this time, they might receive smaller assignments or tasks from cartel leaders and work alongside experienced members.
Role-Playing Opportunities
- Moral Decisions: Joining the cartel can lead characters into morally ambiguous situations where they make tough choices, which can affect their relationships with other characters and factions.
- Interactions with Other Members: Characters can engage with a colorful cast of cartel members, each with their own motivations and agendas, adding depth to the narrative.
- Rivalries and Enemies: The cartel operates in a dangerous underworld, and characters may need to confront rivals or law enforcement as they climb the ranks.
Conclusion
Joining the Shoabense Cartel can be an exciting character arc, opening the door to new skills, moral dilemmas, and rich storytelling opportunities in your Star Frontiers game. Encourage role-playing and creativity as characters navigate their path into this criminal syndicate!
